Otazu, G. H., Tai, L. H., Yang, Y., Zador, A. M. (May 2009) Engaging in an auditory task suppresses responses in auditory cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 12 (5). 646 - 654 . ISSN 1097-6256
Abstract
Although systems that are involved in attentional selection have been studied extensively, much less is known about nonselective systems. To study these preparatory mechanisms, we compared activity in auditory cortex that was elicited by sounds while rats performed an auditory task ('engaged') with activity that was elicited by identical stimuli while subjects were awake but not performing a task ('passive'). We found that engagement suppressed responses, an effect that was opposite in sign to that elicited by selective attention. In the auditory thalamus, however, engagement enhanced spontaneous firing rates but did not affect evoked responses. These results indicate that neural activity in auditory cortex cannot be viewed simply as a limited resource that is allocated in greater measure as the state of the animal passes from somnolent to passively listening to engaged and attentive. Instead, the engaged condition possesses a characteristic and distinct neural signature in which sound-evoked responses are paradoxically suppressed.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | |
| Subjects: | organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > auditory cortex organism description > animal > mammal > rodent > rat organism description > animal > mammal > rodent > rat |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Zador lab CSHL Post Doctoral Fellows |
| Depositing User: | Leigh Johnson |
| Date: | May 2009 |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Mar 2012 19:02 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2023 17:04 |
| PMCID: | PMC4084972 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/25601 |
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